SCOTUS Justice Sonia Sotomayor in SF: on affirmative action, “terror” on the job — and witchcraft

Associate Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, on a book tour, wowed a full house in San Francisco Monday — speaking frankly about her “terror” in handling her first case there, defending affirmative action, and talking about forces that guided her journey from the South Bronx to the highest court in the land.

Sotomayor was greeted with wild applause and two standing ovations during her sold-out talk to the Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco Monday.
SFChronicle legal affairs writer Bob Egelko will be providing the full analysis of her talk, but here’s some highlights:

*On her reason for writing her memoir, “My Beloved World”: “I wanted readers to come away, saying “She’s just like me — and if she can do it, I can do something too.”
“Now, there aren’t that many spots on the Supreme court….it’s not the ultimate goal of whether you can make it or not…but every kid can find the path and enrich themselves by trying.”

*On her childhood: “I may have beaten up some people, but I got beaten up a lot..because I would never cry uncle…I’ve learned to not give up, just to get up and — even when I fail — to lick my wounds.”

*On her diabetes and why she talks about it: “My diabetes is such a central part of my life…….it did teach me discipline..it also taught me about moderation…I’ve trained myself to be super-vigilant…because I feel better when I am in control.”

*On her family history, including that of her father, an alcoholic who died young: In researching the book, “I found the father I never knew, and a romance between my mother and father that I had never heard….For someone who had lived her whole life thinking of my parents as unhappy, it gave me a thrill to know I was wrong.”
“It is important for all of us to appreciate where we come from and how that history has really shaped us in ways that we might not understand.”

*On the importance of mentors: “Find someone whose love is “unconditional,” but if that doesn’t exist “find someone you admire whose ways of doing things you really want to learn from and go up to that person and tell them…”I need to learn what you do so well…there is someone, always in your life, who you can admire.”

*On affirmative action and its impacts on her life: “Affirmative action…is a doubled edged sword…everybody in this room knows we have a case pending, and that case will be judged by its own merits.”
But when she began going to college “people forget, the civil rights movement had just really started.”
“Princeton had only admitted women two years before I got there, and the number of minorities was so small, you could probably count them on two hands…”
“I probably didn’t have anywhere near the top of SAT scores…but I was given the chance to get to the start of the race, and it changed my life. I didn’t know a race was being run before I got there.”
“So part of this race was to make many people (who have benefitted) not to feel ashamed…yes, I needed help. But once I got there, I worked at it. And I proved myself worthy.”

*On her first case on the Court: “The first case I sat on..was Citizens United. Talk about being thrown in. Needless to say, if I was scared before, I was terrified.”

*On writing about witchcraft and her family’s beliefs in it: “When you read the book, you understand how important it was to my grandmother..and my family life…It was a part of my life. Puerto Ricans, as have all the people from Caribbean cultures, have managed to integrate their belief in brujeria and their faith in the Catholic Church…. It was a part of my life, and yes, I did hesitate (to write about it), but .it was to underscore that everybody has a crazy uncle out there, or something that their family does that should be kept secret.”

*On the best job she’s ever had: “Being a justice. If you love law the way I do…you’re given the job of a lifetime…you’re permitted to address the most important legal questions of the country, and sometimes the world. And in doing so, you make a difference in people’s lives.”